Garmin brings Sleep Coach to Forerunner smartwatches in latest update

The Sleep Coach tool, powered by Firstbeat Analytics, provides insights on how much sleep you need based on factors like age, activity, previous sleep, naps and HRV data. Garmin Forum users have suggested other possible improvements with software v18.12, including minor tweaks to widgets, such as a clock icon in the time zone widget and a touchscreen enhancement. Another Forerunner 965 owner has shared a breakdown of accompanying firmware updates, showing GPS upgraded from version 7.99 to 9.03, Wi-Fi from 28.05 to 28.09 and Sensor Hub from 27.18 to 28.10; precisely what improvements these provide remains to be seen. One issue with the software appears to be the removal of the ClimbPro tool for the Hiking activity.

The previous beta update, version 17.26, rolled out about a month ago and appears to be the last iteration in the 17.xx cycle for the wearable, which brought new features like images embedded in smart notifications, naps and additional body battery functionality. Garmin Forerunner 955 and Forerunner 965 users enrolled in the Beta Program must manually check for updates in Settings on their watch to get this latest update. When Garmin will officially acknowledge Beta update version 18.12 is unclear.